New lab to focus on creating sustainable energy source

A state-of-the-art laboratory, which aims to use sunlight to power the sustainable conversion of CO2 and water to form syngas, a high-energy gas mixture with potential as a future fuel source, has opened in Cambridge University's Department of Chemistry.

The approach of the new laboratory aims to develop the basic principles to allow for a renewable production of syngas. Our long-term vision is a transition from a fossil-based to a sustainable carbon-based economy.
—Dr Erwin Reisner, Head of the Christian Doppler Laboratory


 
 

The Christian Doppler laboratory for Sustainable SynGas Chemistry will address application-oriented basic research questions to facilitate the creation of a sustainable carbon-based economy.  It is jointly funded by the Austrian Christian Doppler Research Association (Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth & the National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development) and the OMV Group for a period of seven years.
 
The lab will research ways to use light from the sun to power the sustainable conversion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and water to form syngas, a high-energy gas mixture containing hydrogen, H2 (an attractive fuel on its own), and carbon monoxide, CO. Syngas is a valuable gas mixture and, importantly, it can be transformed into liquid hydrocarbons (‘gasoline’), also known as liquid fuels.


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Image: Sun  Credit: Skyseeker from Flickr


Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge

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